


Anon Asks:

by MorbidOptimist



Series: Permutational Laments [2]
Category: Teen Titans - All Media Types
Genre: Choose Your Own Adventure, Choose Your Own Ending, F/F, Gen, jinx is in the hive, raven is in the teen titans, terra is in high school, this is why you dont try to anonymously auspitize a romance, yahoo ask fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-22
Updated: 2018-02-11
Packaged: 2019-03-08 06:21:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13452342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MorbidOptimist/pseuds/MorbidOptimist
Summary: Jinx can't tell if she's dating Raven or the possible demon that's maybe possessing her, or both.She decides to ask the internet until she can reach some sort of conclusion on what to do, and a familiar face does their best to provide answers without accidentally revealing themself to the criminal community.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [amorea (executivecodearbitration)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/executivecodearbitration/gifts).



> this is a holiday gift that would have been on time had things gone according to plan; alas.

Tara Markov settled herself into her chair with all the excitement and motivation of a brick.  
Which was to say, none at all.  
Lethargy felt written into her bones and the prospect of forcing herself to work on her History paper may as well have poured liquid cement over her limbs, weighing them down to near exhaustion.  
She looked over the scattered succulents dotting her desk, their familiar forms warming her face to a smile before long.  
After a light breath, she opened her computer fully accepting that she was going to spend the rest of her evening doing absolutely nothing resembling productive in any way or form.  
Pushing away thoughts of school and stress, Tara flitted between tabs and browsed her favorite cyber haunts. After a while however, she started following tangents and weblinks in lackluster rabbit dive down the recesses of the internet.  
Eventually, that too proved too tedious for her pursuits.  
She tapped her mouse idly with her finger, her cursor hovering over a particular tab that she had never been able to bring herself to close.  
Her heart rate started to change as she thought on the world hidden behind the link; a tiny window into the world she had finally convinced herself to forsake.  
Terra was dead; a specific set of nutrients missing from her soil.  
She had no need or reason to click open the tab.  
She clicked it.  
At once, a small frame popped up on her screen, a black window laden with multicolored texts whizzing by at scurrying speeds.  
The Villain Network. Or one of their networks, at least.  
A shudder crawled along Tara’s back before zinging around and fizzling out in her hips.  
She refused to be so foolish as to change her status from ‘Away’, where she had left it all those months ago, choosing instead to utilize the safer venue of simply lurking passively behind it.  
The subspace she currently had open was back from the days she had been investigating the HIVE, back she had been at the Tower; the thought was somewhat disjointed. It was difficult to picture that part of her life now.  
The students bantering across her screen however, were easier to recall.  
She smiled, snorted as she chuckled over relearning some of the villains tactlessly created pun based handles.  
The Hive students were never ones to fail at making a spectacle of themselves.  
This in mind, she moused over to the most recent logs of their chat.  
It seemed that Jinx had just logged in; Tara grinned.

GIZWIZ: what’s up nerd  
GIZWIZ: get out of here before you blow up our servers  
ShadowedDilemma: hi Jinx   
XHexXWishX: @GIZ fuck you too :_finger_emoji_:   
BigWolly: hey   
XHexXWishX: hey Mam  
XHexXWishX: hi Wykkyd  
BigWolly: whats up?  
XHexXWishX: I got a question  
XHexXWishX: figured I’d submit it for discussion  
BumbleBitchin: u sure you wanna do that over the main chat?  
BumbleBitchin: Freak’s on   
GIZWIZ: don’t say his effin name u dongbat! That summons him!!!  
FractalGentleman: Too late! I’m already here!  
FractalGentleman: what troubles you m’lady?   
FractalGentleman: No doubt my limitless databanks of information and intellect can help you with whatever you want to know!  
SuperPrincess: Like  
SuperPrincess: Hello and shit just get on with it  
SuperPrincess: I can’t even stand the suspense and I’m not even   
SuperPrincess: like *standing* or whatever  
XHexXWishX: Okay yeah sure  
XHexWishX: its… kinda out there but  
XHexXWishX: so there’s this girl  
GIZWIZ: Oh my nutcracking muffinstomper  
SuperPrincess: OH MY GAWD!!!1!  
BumbleBitchin: witch girl?  
BigWolly: @GIZ you owe me ten bucks  
XHexXWishX:@chat shut up u fucks  
XHexXWishX: Anyway  
XHexXWishX: How many teeth is too many teeth?  
BumbleBitchin: what?  
GIZWIZ: whatdya mean ‘too many teeth’  
ShadowedDilemma: ??  
FractalGentleman: Well that one’s easy! It depends on what species the girl is!  
FracticalGentalman: Speaking of species and teeth, in volume four of INtergalatic Dramatica Nox 7 Episode 9 Commander Isoton clearly emphasises the importance of the hind molars in the Plorthon’s second mouth which is a direct contrast to Season 7 where Ajax-Prime classically opposes the dentistry omnetics of Ibex Center’s Outstellar Oligarchy for lower rated incisors; it’s a classic case of post-galactic conflict but its relevance to your query proves that even the basic of story arcs can be applicable I guess.   
GIZWIZ: holy shit shut up no one cares  
FracticalGentalman: rude

GIZWIZ: and why dont you fuckin ask google or some shit for dating advice you pink degenerate 

BigWolly: yeah we aint exactly coverin any of that in class pInky   
XHexXWishX: you dweebs are like, zero help 

SuperPrincess: I use Yoohoo answers for all my dating stuff!!! 

SuperPrincess: u should like totally try it out!!!  
BumbleBitchin: that’s like the worst advice ever  
BumbleBitchin: with your luck it just might work tho lol  
XHexXWishX: whatevs thnkz 4 nothing u shits  
BumbleBitchin: dont forget ur Trigg packet! shits due tomorrow  
XHexXWishX: got you covered Bee; did that last period! I’ll send it over to you and Tinhead when you send me the plans for next week’s chemistry lab  
BumbleBitchin: sure thing  
XHexXWishX: cool   
XHexXWishX: catch you losers later :_blow_Kiss_:

XHexXWishX  has disconnected from the chat.

Tara sat back in her chair.  
She took a sip from the overpriced paper cupped monstrosity she had purchased earlier that day, ignoring the vaguely unpleasant way the cold coffee slid over her tongue.  
Part of her felt remorse that none of the people who would’ve found this information amusing were around.  
She set her coffee down and opened a new tab with as intent to find Jinx’s Yoohoo ask.  
It took awhile of searching to find it, but Tara was nothing if not dedicated to the art of procrastination based misplaced-motivation.  
Having found what she was sure was Jinx’s question, she decided to have a spot of fun at the girl’s expense, if only for the ghost lingering faintly in her veins.  
Jinx’s question read:

_xHexupX Asks:_  
_Help!_ i _have a crush on a girl whose teeth are sometimes sharper than mine & i really want to kiss her but i dont want my mouth to come out looking like it had a fight with a lawnmower? What should i do?_

Terra snorted and clicked open the response button.  
She had no idea which buckshot teen villain to which Jinx was referring, but she also didn’t really care.  
It wasn’t really her business on who Jinx wanted to make out with, but she couldn’t shake the feeling of wanting to jest and boast as she had once did in the heats of frays. Jinx she was sure, would roll with the punches easily.  
It was a shame she wasn’t feeling particularly creative with her trolling intent.  
So she typed in the most basic response that came to mind.

_Anon replied:_  
_Take her to a dentist or somefin lamao_

  
Feeling more refreshed than she had in several hours, Tara took another sip of coffee and decided to devote the rest of her evening to binge-watching old seasons of her favorite shows.  
The next night, Tara rubbed her face, trying vainly to smoosh her bleary eyes out of existence and numb her mind out of the trajectory of a headache that it was racing towards.  
Her efforts were for the most part ineffectual; she exhaled deeply, a long soured note.  
It had been another long day; longer still, that she had been working on her paper.  
She bit her lip; wondered if she was working too hard.  
The thought of her previous night’s attempts at monotony breaking sprang to her mind.  
She didn’t dare check back in on the Villain Network so soon; she had no idea who’d be interested in tracking her anymore or not, but she couldn’t risk her old… mentor, finding her.  
She wet her lips as she thought of the ask page.  
She found it again easily, Jinx’s name altogether too glaringly obvious for her to forget.  
She scrolled further and noticed that Jinx had made another ask.  
She grinned and decided that finishing her History report could wait a little longer.

_xHexupX Asks:_  
_sometimes my crush has more eyes than she should. what is the amount of eyes_ i _should probably think twice at before kissing her?_

That ask seemed… oddly specific, for some reason that she wasn’t sure that she could place.  
It was probably wasn’t anything, she told herself as she clicked to make another response.

_Anon replied: Dude you don't even want to kiss a girl with two eyes_ ;; _that's all the more eyes she can see ur ugly bitch ass with_

With her response sent, her momentary distraction was spent. The idea of there being extra eyes however, lingered.  
She remembered vaguely, that one of the Hive kids had something of an eye motif, but the kid had only one eye and was also the wrong gender unless something had drastically changed with him.  
She was pretty sure that even if there had, the kid lacked anything to do at all with teeth.  
Tara bit her lip as she thought.  
The only girl, well; woman, she could recall that had the innate ability to morph her features at will was Madame Rogue.  
She had heard through the evil grapevine that Jinx had held something of an idol crush on the old world villain; the woman in turn likely had no idea that Jinx existed, or would, ever. A fact that left Tara feeling somewhat dimmed of curiosity.  
Jinx’s questions were likely airless wonderings; harmless and bereft of any city threatening scheming.  
She’d keep an eye on it, for a while anyway, she decided; in the unlikely event Jinx ever decided to escalate for her idol’s attention, she could…  
Call in an anonymous tip?  
Or something.  
Tara rolled her shoulders.  
Either way, it was just some harmless fun to look forward to.

Jinx’s next question came nearly a week later. And several more questions followed it. Questions like _‘If a girl handcuffs me a lot instead of letting anyone else do it when they have the chance to, does that mean she likes me?’_ and _‘What are some signs that you can give a girl to let her know you’re into her when you’re evil.’_

These were fine and well enough; nothing that rocked Tara’s bedgravel, and some even had answers from people that weren’t from her, but one of Jinx’s next question startled her.

_‘On a scale of 1-10, how evil is it to sleep with a woman who isn’t evil?’_

This question threw a lot of Tara’s prior assumptions off, and she didn’t like the way it sat in her head and glimmered on her screen.  
The question implied that Jinx wasn’t interested in a villain at all, but maybe a civilian.  
Or a hero.  
Tara wet her lips and ran a hand through her long faded blonde hair.  
The question’s comments were flooded of the ‘morality’ of sleeping with women in general, misogyny and legality alike, which didn’t sit quite well with her either. Oddly enough, the sense of unease she felt was vaguely familiar.  
A thought came to her; a half forgotten memory of the cloak wearing Titan with four pulsing red eyes and a mouth full of tiny sharp fangs sheathed in the darkness of her hood.  
Ahhh, she sighed internally.  
That made sense somehow.  
Well, she figured, Raven was a girl more than capable of defending herself; really she had no reason to worry about any of it further unless Jinx started crowd-searching kidnapping plans or something else equally ludicrous planned out.

Her assumption was why it took nearly a month for her to check back in on Jinx’s pitiable romantic endeavors.  
To her surprise, according to her new lines of questioning, Jinx had somehow not only made her feelings known to the Titan of her fancy, but also managed to spark up… something with the girl as a result of it, and judging from the small strings of comments on each of her questions, Tara wasn’t the only one with a passing interest in her dating life.  
The exact nature of their relationship was something Jinx seemed unsure about, following her strange asks, but was also something of a point of pride and genuine delight to the thief as well.  
Tara’s first instinct was to call out the girl as a downright liar, but the way Jinx’s questions were progressing into really specific oddities left enough room for her gut to change her mind on the matter.

‘ _Do super hero girls normally get possessive in a relationship or is mine actually possessed?’_ Was one of the ones that stuck out to her; she had a hard time picturing the stoic girl acting in any sort of romantic fashion, but as she tried to picture what she would be like in a relationship, ‘possessive’ seemed the most glaringly probable to her for some reason.  
She found herself smiling; while she had… mixed feelings, to put it lightly, about the Titan, she was… sort of happy? At the prospect of the Titan branching out and enjoying herself in… whatever weird way hanging out with Jinx might be for the girl.  
And the idea that Raven might be actually possessed was laughable; she smiled freely as the idea of Jinx bringing it up to the girl’s face and couldn’t help but chuckle at the absurdity of it.  
Raven was aloof, sure, and prone to temperamental outbursts and polymorphic shapeshifts with jarring teeth and terrifying red eyes with a strange aversion to sunlight and sometimes spoke as if she were several different people at once and…  
And actually… the idea made a lot of sense.  
She felt somelike like a chill shiver up her to her shoulders and seep out through her hands, chilling her fingers.

_‘Why not both?’_ She answered.

She hoped Jinx would see the message; while Raven was more than capable of looking after herself, Tara suddenly felt anxious over the idea that Jinx probably didn’t know what exactly she was trying to get herself into.  
Jinx’s questions continued as her relationship with the Titan appeared to progress. From what the questions implied, Raven seemed to be hanging out with Jinx, somewhere that likely wasn’t the Tower or the Hive Academy, though she wasn’t sure where, as some sort of routine between them was built up.  
Tara half wondered if Jinx was simply squatting in random people’s houses, using their computers and eating their junkfood as Raven simply, melted up through the shadows to join her.  
At this point, she figured it’d be just as likely as anything else that seemed to be going on between the two.

‘ _So the girl that i’m sort of dating right now, im pretty sure she’s actually possessed? Does anyone have any advice on that? If she’s in trouble i want to help her but the trouble is i can’t tell weather her or visiting entity is the one dating me. What if it’s the demon possessing her is the one that likes to watch cartoons with me at 3 am?? How do i tell which one wants to mack on me and what should i do about it?’_

Yeah, Tara thought. Nothing could get any stranger at this point, she bet.  
Tara thought on it a moment, recalling what she could of the Titan; she was sure the girl was still doing fine, as in control of herself and her image as she always was.  
Except for when she wasn’t. Flashes of memory flitted through her mind, recalling events where Raven had ruptured her normal stoic nature with outbursts of mis-micromanaged rage.  
But maybe Jinx was just labeling everything as ‘Demons!!!’ just because as a Hive student, she was used to labeling things and having answers?  
Tara wasn’t sure.  
Jinx seemed convinced that Raven was possed, which Tara couldn’t argue against and didn’t fault her for, but was surprisingly conflicted about it in a manner that Tara hadn’t anticipated.  
It seemed like common sense that anyone would choose her ‘human’ half over her non-human half, Tara reasoned; all Raven’s outbursts and rages couldn’t have been flattering or endearing.  
Then again, what if it was the actual half of her that had emotions? Hadn’t Raven been ‘trained’ not to have any herself?  
So maybe, like Jinx seemed to think, it was indeed that demonic part of her that was capable of forming… whatever sort of relationship it was she had with Jinx?  
Tara bit her lip.  
This brought up too many questions for Tara’s liking.  
What if the demon was the part of Raven dating Jinx? Was her normal, human self, unaware of it? Was the human Raven more deserving of autonomy than her demon, when Tara was pretty sure it was the demon’s abilities Raven had been using to save people?  
Did anyone else ever think to ask these things about her?  
Surely, Robin at least would have stepped in to help his friend long before now.  
Unless, that was, Robin had never been made aware of the problem, she amended. How many times had they simply let the girl lurk in the shadows, doing her own thing, accepting her answers at face value?  
Perhaps she was never as fine as they all had thought.

When Jinx asked _‘Help, my girlfriend? Has demon? Insider her, and they both like making out with me_ ,,, _is that cheating?’_ Tara couldn’t hold herself back any longer from feeling invested.  
She was in too deep now.  
She had to know had everything was going to play out.  
It was the high-schooler in her, she supposed.

She replied; ‘ _If she doesn’t know you kiss her both ways you’re a creep and you’re WEAK’_

Soon Jinx’s questions dipped into a sort of absurdist domestically; Raven’s reactions to certain things that Jinx couldn’t make heads or tails of, questions of late night chantings and spice rack reorganizations, and so on. Questions that were more at ease with Raven’s doubled? Nature, but still flourishing with concern for her(their?) behavior.  
Tara was all too happy to reply with wit and sarcasm, even favoring an occasional meaty riff or two; the times Jinx responded with outcomes and tested answers made for entertaining reads, and were often such times that Tara couldn’t restrain herself for gearing up for the girl’s inevitable next question.

It was easy to lose herself in the surrealism of the situation, which is why when sometime later, when Jinx genuinely proposed the idea of dousing Raven with holy water, Tara felt the jarring sensation of reality colliding into her gut with great momentum and suddenly, the situation didn’t feel as funny anymore.  
Tara bit her lip.

_‘Look, I know_ i’ve _been giving you shit answers up until now, but please, PLEASE, don’t throw holy water on Raven. It’d just, be a really *really_ * _bad idea, okay?’_

_‘@dirtnap PM me’_

She knows; Tara thought.

  
It took Tara a few hours to compose herself.  
It took seconds for her to click open the network tab.

  
Dirt_Nap: How did you know it was me?  
XHexXWishX: pssh; plz.   
XHexXWishX: i’ve lived in the Hive long enough to memorize someone’s brand of humor   
XHexXWishX: also   
XHexXWishX: you were the only one who HASN’T grilled me up over raven   
XHexXWishX: and if you were really dead   
XHexXWishX: u wouldn’t be ghosting your old accounts   
XHexXWishX: that and well,,   
XHexXWishX: raven said she was p sure you weren’t dead so   
XHexXWishX: i figured it was you   
XHexXWishX: since it was really easy to tell who the others were   
Dirt_Nap: yeah Bumble Bee had some p shit ideas  
XHexXWishX: Gizzy’s were worse   
XHexXWishX: sometimes i think that boy is *trying* to sabotage me   
XHexXWishX: anyway, whats up?   
XHexXWishX: glad ur not dead fwiw   
Dirt_Nap: i’d argue that point but;  
Dirt_Nap: /shrug  
Dirt_Nap: i’m more concerned over you rn anyway  
Dirt_Nap: u being a literal demon fucker now and all  
XHexXWishX: i resent that remark on the grounds that it still may or may not be true   
Dirt_Nap: she’s totally possessed  
XHexXWishX: i agree she’s /something/ but   
XHexXWishX: idk   
XHexXWishX: part of me thinks she’s fucknig with me   
Dirt_Nap: as she’s your girlfriend, i should hope so >:]  
XHexXWishX: lewd.   
Dirt_Nap: still doesnt change the fact that ur in deep with a shadow monster with teeth  
XHexXWishX: those teeth can do wonders i’ll have you know   
Dirt_Nap: gross  
Dirt_Nap: now who's being lewd?  
XHexXWishX: >;3c   
Dirt_Nap: how does she even stand you anyway  
Dirt_Nap: and if you start typnig the bee movie script i stg rn ill block you  
XHexXWishX: D:   
XHexXWishX: spoilsport   
XHexXWishX: anyway like, we jsut hit it off well?   
XHexXWishX: her, her demon, and me   
XHexXWishX: its real cozy with jsut us actually   
XHexXWishX: just*   
XHexXWishX: :)   
Dirt_Nap: yeah, real cozy sure.  
Dirt_Nap: and i bet all those nights at 2am when shes eating raw steak and mumbling to herself is real quaint  
XHexXWishX: hey! Demons need a lot of iron!   
XHexXWishX: and bone meal, apparnetly   
XHexXWishX: things have gotten a bit quieter since i started putting powered bone in her tea   
Dirt_Nap: …  
Dirt_Nap: are you aware of those like, specific words you just said just now?  
Dirt_Nap: besides, weren’t you the one who wanted to toss holy water on her???  
XHexXWishX: well I had to say /something/ to get you to talk to me   
XHexXWishX: but yeah that is actually a question ive had rollnig around for a while now   
XHexXWishX: i dont want to like *dunk* her or anything,   
XHexXWishX: just maybe put it in a squirt bottle and spirits her now and then to deter her from bad behaviors   
Dirt_Nap: …  
XHexXWishX: she likes to throw her weight around a lot, powers and such to get what she wants   
XHexXWishX: which is mostly harmless to be fair   
XHexXWishX: its just the principle of the thing   
Dirt_Nap: u mean her or her demon?  
XHexXWishX: mmhm   
Dirt_Nap: have you given up thinking about exercising her then?  
XHexXWishX: oh i give her plenty of exercise ;3c   
Dirt_Nap: *rolls eyes*  
XHexXWishX: i meant with my criminal activities; get your head out of the gutter >:P   
Dirt_Nap: *rolls eyes harder*  
XHexXWishX: anyway   
XHexXWishX: you can see how raven is for herself when you come over this weekened   
Dirt_Nap: excuse me???  
XHexXWishX: Raven wants us to hang out for a bit off the records   
XHexXWishX: :)   
Dirt_Nap: *that feel when you’ve just been invited to be a ritual sacrifice*  
XHexXWishX: lol   
XHexXWishX: dont be stupid Rockstar   
XHexXWishX: Raven doesn’t ritual sacrifice till the /third/ new moon of the year   
Dirt_Nap: :|  
XHexXWishX: anyway we’re having lunch and if you don’t show up Raven’s gonna have both our asses and its going to pleasant for nobody   
Dirt_Nap: fine  
Dirt_Nap: but nobody else knows i exist? Got it?  
XHexXWishX: sure!   
XHexXWishX: bring snacks! :D 


	2. Chapter 2

Terra wasn’t sure what she was expecting to see when she entered “Their Place”; she had envisioned all manners of things and all manners of ways for the luncheon to go, especially after walking to the part of town it was to occur in, so it was almost underwhelming entering what looked like a well kept apartment devoid of things like mausoleum furniture and blood splatters. 

“Glad you could make it!” Jinx proclaimed as she ushered her further in, she took a look around the hallway; “You took the long way to get here, right?” she asked before closing the door. 

“Nah, I thought a live tail would liven up the party. I’m hoping for a raid, personally,” she cracked dryly. 

“Hey fuck you, I just got this place fixed up for you! Least you could do is be grateful enough to make it last the day,” Jinx retorted; “You want somethin’ to drink? Oh, and let me take that,” she prompted as she took the plate of pigs-in-blankets and stood next to the coffee table, visibly trying to work out how to arrange everything to fit. 

After a moment she shrugged and set the plate on a sidetable next to one of the chairs. 

“So yeah you can sit down or whatever, and I’ll get those drinks,” Jinx offered, as if thinking aloud more than speaking to her directly.  

Terra glanced at the seating set up and elected to sit in one of the armchairs, saving the couch and the opposing armchair for anyone else to take up as Jinx scampered into the kitchen. 

“We got soda, grape juice, tea, or booze,” she called out from the fridge, “What’s your poison?” 

“Coke if you got it,” she called back. 

As she listened to Jinx scramble around the kitchen, Jinx looked over the living space and took in the various details.  

The decor was, unassuming, for its placement but was still undeniable in its occultish nature; lots of skulls, Terra noted, of all different kinds. Small skulls, tiny skulls, several medium-ish sized skulls here and there, and a couple larger more eerie ones perched picturesquely on stacks of books or hanging artfully on the walls. 

The coffee table had what looked like a pentagram embossed into the wood underneath the clear gloss finish, and the sofa’s throw blanket had an ouija board pattern. There were also a lot of rocks, which Terra hadn’t expected at all; crystals of varying sizes and types which led Terra to winder briefly about who much of the apartment's furnishings were stolen goods.

Along the walls and edges of the ceiling, there seemed to be dried herbs hanging from strings in clusters and bunches. There were smells of all sorts of scents emanating from tiny metal trays with half burnt sticks and candles of all sizes and colors, making Terra’s nose twitch.

Overall the apartment felt… strange. 

Secretive.

It made some sense, she supposed; given the secretive natures of the girls living in it. 

“You’ll have to deal with cola, the hard stuff don’t come out till after nine,” Jinx teased, suddenly beside her with handfuls of drinks, her lips in a grin. 

“Please, you wouldn’t even vape. Let alone do coke,” she bantered, taking the drink. 

Jinx fell back onto the sofa and expelled a breath; she seemed pleased, but the hint of her showing nerves did little to set Terra at ease. 

“I mean, true,” Jinx admitted, cracking open her soda, “But Vapes are for hipsters and coke’s for people who want to give up on their ambitions,” she reasoned, “I do got a hookah though,” she mused; “Well, it’s actually one of Raven’s toys but it’s nifty. Real pretty too.” 

“Her or her fancy bong?” Terra teased. 

“I’m like, five percent certain there’s at least two major differences between a hookah and a bong; maybe like… three things, even,” Jinx deadpanned in faux-seriousness. 

Terra hummed in good natured mockery and sipped her soda. 

She felt, an odd feeling, sitting in front of Jinx.

She felt torn between what she wanted to do; she felt conflicted over what she wanted to say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From here, you can choose a chapter to see what happens next! 
> 
> Select Chapter 3 to Compliment Jinx’s Hosting Prowess and Inquire about the Missus!   
> To ask Jinx to blink three times if she’s being held captive, please venture to Chapter 4!   
> To wait and say nothing, choose chapter 5!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You chose the ending: "Happy Houseguest!"

“So how long have you had this apartment?” Terra asked, to break the silence.

“Eh, a few months now, well jointly that is; it was mine before then too,” Jinx rambled reminiscently in reply.

Terra took another glance around the apartment; scattered skulls and crystals.

“I guess what with the demon… bit, the creepy decorating is a must?”

“Oh the magic stuff is mostly all mine; some of it is Raven’s but I gave her most of it so, that’s all on me.”

Terra mulled it over and made a shrug like expression with her face; she took a sip of her drink.

“So we gonna watch any movies or, play a Nintendo or something?” she asked casually as she glanced at the tv to her left.

“I mean, if you want, probably? I dunno what Raven had in mind exactly; I’m just playing the part of the dutiful housewife,” Jinx sighed airly, batting her lashes as she glanced dramatically to the ceiling.

“You cook then?” Terra asked, surprised; “I didn’t think the Hive had Home ec.”

“I mean, they sort of? Do?” Jinx replied hesitantly; “Mostly they teach you how to make poisoned food and like, drinks and stuff that’ll knock people out. But from that, it’s not that hard to figure out how to make normal stuff.”  

“Also, the internet exists, and it has recipes for just about everything,” Jinx added, a hint of pride in her pitch.

“True;” Terra conceded; “I just didn’t expect it of you is all. I still remember you robbing drive-throughs for cheesy fries.”

Jinx laughed, snorting twice as she fought to catch her breath.

“She _still_ does that;” a voice rang out from behind the closed door, seemingly unimpressed.

“Honey, get out here already! She’s not gonna care if your eyebrows match or whatever the fuck you’re messing with!” Jinx called; Jinx tilted her from its angle toward the door back to her.

“You’ve seen Raven fucked up before yeah?” she asked seriously.

Terra nodded absently; she _had_ seen Raven in a lot of unflattering states.

There was a thump from behind the door, but no snarky comment.

“She should be out in a few minutes,” Jinx offered; “I think she’s worked up over impressing you.”

Terra’s eyebrows raised slightly. 

“Hey, don’t look so surprised; possessed or not, she’s way more human than most people give her credit before,” Jinx chattered; it was defensive sounding, but nothing overtly bell ringing.

“So, anything about that all,” Terra began, waving her hand, “That you wanna talk about? Any live questions you wanna ask?”

“Terra please, she’s like, right there and can hear us emoting.”

Terra’s ears nearly perked up; “She senses emotions? That’d… explain some stuff actually.”

“Yeah, she can do all kinds of things; stop time, bend reality, get taxis to stop for her first try…” Jinx trailed airily.

“Witchcraft,” Terra hissed in faux-aberration.

Jinx chuckled; “Actually MudBall, I’m the witch or the house. Got a familiar and everything to prove it.”

“Really?” Terra asked; she glanced around the room for any sign of such a creature. 

“Yeah, he’s a hairless cat, one of those pesky little Sphynxes;” Jinx explained as she too glanced around the room for her pet, “He’s around here somewhere. He might come out in a bit once he’s warmed up to you. He’s not used to strangers.”

“Where’d you find him?” Terra asked conversationally, crossing her legs underneath herself to sit more comfortably in the chair.

“Eh, some alley downtown. Found a litter of ‘em in a gutter oddly enough. Took ‘em home in my jacket. Momma cat passed on the first night, and one by one most of the other kittens did too. Turns out my bad luck is kinda really potent on animals, which sucks. Mammoth’s still never forgiven me;” Jinx admitted; “But Hoax turned out alright, strong as an ox and as crafty as a devil,” she added happily; “He wouldn’t take no for answer and wouldn’t stop following me home. I Think he knew I tried to save him and his family; I think he chose me to be his new Mommy.”

Terra couldn’t help but to smile. 

“So you named your cat ‘Hoax’, huh?” she teased; “What, Villain Theming 101 too tempting to resist?”

Jinx smirked. 

“Hey, I gave him a whole list to pick from. 'Hoax' is just his stage name; his full name is ‘Astral-Hoax-of-the-Picatrix-Kind’” Jinx explained jovially; “Rae calls him ‘Impling’.”

Terra shook her head slowly; “You’re both absurd,” she replied fondly.

The door to the bedroom opened with a creek, signaling the Titan’s entrance.   

Along with the Titan’s arrival, Jinx’s cat also came in, parading at the girl’s heels as she drew near to Jinx, pressed her nose briefly to the girl’s cheek, and sat serenely in the remaining armchair.

The cat made a leap for the coffee table, his eyes clearly set on the food laid out on top of it.  

“Babe!” Jinx yelped as she lunged for the cat. 

As Hoax shimmied his way out of Jinx’s hands, he landed onto a black shadowy mass that shifted underneath him endlessly, rotating in such a way that made the cat look like he was working out on a tiny neverending escalator.

“I’ll put him back in the bedroom in a minute,” Raven murmured; “Since you two were talking about him I’d thought she’d like to see him.”

“He is really weird looking,” Terra agreed; “In a neat sort of way,” she added hastily, shooting a glance from the determined cat to Raven’s face, checking for any signs of the Titan’s temper.

“Yes; he grows on you, I’ve found,” she murmured contently, a slight smile around the corners of her eyes.

“Damn thing’s a furrless little traitor is what he is,” Jinx seethed as Raven pulled the black mass, and the cat, onto her lap.

“I feed him, bathe him, buy him all the sweaters he’d ever need, but whose the only lap he’ll sit in?” she drawled, shooting a darting glare at the Titan.

“I can’t help it if my body temperature is higher than yours,” Raven replied evenly as she ran her hand over the cats back, sending rippling waves of folding over and back again.   

Jinx smiled and turned to look at her; “I give Raven a lot of shit for it but, like, it’s kinda like having a girlfriend that enjoys spending time with your kid? And having a kid that’s in love with your girlfriend,” she explained merrily; “I was a bit worried at first cause’a how vocal he is, what with Raven’s auditory stuff, but, they seem to get along really well so far.”

Terra returned Jinx’s grin and looked back at the cat, who was purring rather loudly while attempting to crawl up to Raven’s neck. 

“Is he anything like Silkie?” Terra asked; “Other than a couple dogs and Beast Boy, I don’t actually know much about like, animals and stuff.”    

Jinx grabbed some cheese and crackers from the table, and Raven watched her stuff her mouth before electing to reply.

“Like Silkie, he needs a lot of bathing, since he doesn’t have any fur to soak up his oils. He gets cold easily so he’s always looking for places to get warm,” Raven began to murmur.

“He really likes Raven’s cloak,” Jinx interjected as she tried to contain her cracker crumbs in her hand.   

“He also will eat everything. Anything, edible, if it’s within his reach,” Raven added.

“I have to leave him in the bedroom to make dinner,” Jinx added.

“He’s really playful, and enjoys rearranging things,” Raven continued, gesturing to the room; “Anything that he can carry in his mouth, he moves around.”

“Half the time, I set up my spells around however he moves my shit, since it's easier than trying to keep everything in its proper place,” Jinx chuckled; “But he does stay within a circle if you draw one. So like, whenever I do anything I have to draw him his own circle or he’ll inevitably decide to plant his tubby-but onto whatever I’m trying to do.”

“I’ve found he’s an awful lot like Jinx actually,” Raven explained, her amusement reaching her mouth at Jinx’s chagrin; Jinx shot her a look and Raven pet the cat once more before continuing; “They both like to 'borrow' things and they both are undeniably clingy.”

“He gets separation anxiety,” Jinx admitted, nodding slightly as she procured herself more crackers; “He gets on well with other pets though which is nice.”

‘Do you have other pets?” Terra asked.

Jinx looked… as if she was debating idly, but Raven’s smile remained intact.

She let out a low whistle; a note nearly odd for a human, and from the bedroom came a flapping sound.

A large black bird landed on Raven’s shoulder.

“That is the biggest crow I have ever seen,” Terra nearly stuttered, taking the bird in.

Raven’s grin broke wider, showing a snippet of her too-perfectly aligned teeth.

“He’s a raven, wild and all. Most of the species has a... _thing_ for Raven, as it were. This one just sticks around the most,” Jinx explained as she leaned over and made a kissy noise at the bird.

The bird turned and yapped at her and puffed up his feathers before turning to look at Terra.

He twisted his head this way and that for a moment to look at her before he flapped his wings and turned his attention to the cat.  

“He likes to bring us weird little shiny things, mostly in exchange for french fries,” Jinx furthered; “I love him and his name is Mr. Grubby Beak, King of the Trashlings.”

Jinx’s smile grew wider and she clicked her tongue for a moment to get the bird’s attention.

“Say Fuck!” she jeered.

The bird let out a word that quite clearly resembled the human phrase, much to Jinx’s visible, and audible, delight.

“You are a disastrous influence,” Raven scolded.

“Hey, at least I didn’t teach him to say 'vagina',” Jinx teased; she adjusted her position and turned to look at Terra.

“So, you,” she stated flatly.

“So, me,” Terra agreed.

“How ah, how you doin?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Jinx began, gesturing to her with her chin, “You’ve been bouncing your leg this whole time and you’ve had a funny twitch in your eye. You know we’re not gonna like, do any witchy stuff or anything with you, or sell you out to anyone, yeah?”

Terra licked her lips and darted her eyes around the room.

She exhaled a breath and blinked slowly as she looked from Raven to Jinx and back again.

She gathered her composure and stood up slowly.

“Look, I’ve been meaning to say this since I’ve got here, and please don’t take this the wrong way but…”

Raven stood up, the cat cradled against her shoulder like a bizarrely creased infant; “Tara, if this is about what happened back then I-”

“-I really can’t stand-”

“-It’s okay,” Jinx interjected, “We can just-”

The lights surged briefly, catching everyone's attention, before they dimmed again to their normal luminance.

Everyone stopped at looked at each other sheepishly for a moment before Raven exhaled and nodded once at Jinx before looking back to her.

“Go ahead,” she prompted.

Terra raised her chin slightly and clenched her fists.

“Look, this might sound weird but,” she began; she paused, took a breath, and all but shouted, “Look, where do you keep your vacuum? This place is really nice but I can feel every particle of dirt in your carpet and it’s really bugging me out and I will _not_ be swayed on the matter because -Don’t look at me like that,” she tossed at Raven as the Titan started to chuckle to herself as if in relief, “You know _full_ fact that I can’t stand messy textiles. Just cause I have earth powers doesn’t mean I want it where it shouldn’t be. Fucking cough up your vacuum or I swear to _god_ I’ll just dump all the dust into your shoes or some shit.”

Jinx looked at her for a moment before looking to Raven and back at her again; her pink eyes grew large as their slitted pupils narrowed.

“You… _want_? To _clean_?” she asked quietly.

“Let me but the beasts away and I’ll hook you right up,” Raven murmured before she walked to the bedroom.

Terra exhaled in relief and looked back at Jinx, who was looking at her in something like wonder.

“Do you want cash or credit?” she asked skeptically.

Terra snorted.

“Bitch, I can make my own multi-carat diamonds; keep your change,” she instead.

Jinx’s eyes grew even wider.

“Do you want to move in?”

“We have a guestroom;” Raven’s called from behind the door.

Terra smiled. She could only imagine what situations would unfold in front of her with free frontline seats.  

“Ask the internet,” she teased.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You chose chapter four! You chose the ending: The Suspicion of Disbelief!

“So, blink twice if you’re being held here against your will and blink three times if she’s here with us,” Terra prompted.

Jinx blinked once, surprised, and then eased farther into her seat and offered her a grin.

“Raven’s in the back; she’s still getting ready since she got here later than she wanted to. Blah blah, hero stuff;” Jinx replied as she waved a hand in an absent gesture.  

“Oh?” Terra asked as her eyes darted to the closed door in the dimmest portion of the living space.

“Yeah, apparently Kardiak and Overload decided to tag team the Titans today. Just, weird goo everywhere. Dunno from what though. Raven didn’t really say much before she hopped into the shower.”

Jinx shrugged slightly and sipped her drink.

“Is she… okay? With the villains lately?” Terra pressed carefully, her voice lowered; “Like, any Doctor Light type of freakouts?”

“I mean,” Jinx exhaled; “She _is_ a hero MudBall; she’s gotta throw shade around sometimes to keep ‘em all on their toes. There’s a lot of hard stuff that don’t go down in this town with the threat of Raven looming around.”

“And by ‘threat’ you mean-”

“I mean she’s like the Batman of Jump City or whatever; sure she _could_ just kill whoever she catches, but she doesn’t cause she has prissy morals. And like, just cause she won't kill you, doesn’t mean she won't make sure you have a bad day. And like, to be fair we all got bad days sometimes.”

“Yeah but,” Terra protested.

“And besides, you’re one to talk, Misses Continental Drift.” 

Terra felt her face redden as her spine stiffened in a visceral response to recoil at Jinx’s words.

“I know I was dangerous,” she hissed, “That’s why I gave it up.”

“Just cause you chickened out, doesn’t mean Raven has to,” Jinx grumbled warningly, her brows narrowed.

“Look I’m just saying that when I was working with her-”

“You mean betraying her,” Jinx corrected.

Terra grimaced; “When… I was _at the Tower_ ,” she pressed, “Raven had a lot of… moments. Pent-up stuff. And that’s a whole lotta scary shit to be directed solely at you.”

“You don’t know jack about what I can handle,” Jinx spat indignantly; “Look, if you’re gonna be like this all afternoon I can show you the door.”

“Jinx,” rang a toneless voice from the edge of the room; Terra turned to see Raven approaching them in a smart, but off-putting, white collared, black dress. Raven stopped by Jinx at the edge of the sofa and looked them both over; “I did tell you to be patient with her,” she dolled, “You can’t expect her to be… open, after everything we’ve been through. And your chatroom jaunts certainly haven’t helped matters in that regard.”

Raven turned to look at her and nodded slightly.

“Terra.”

Seeing Raven speak, seeing her breathe, next to Jinx while out of uniform in a room no way connected to the Tower felt wholly unreal to Terra, like she was existing outside of her body on a different plane of reality. The world even looked like it was warping slightly, in the air around near Raven’s hand where it touched Jinx’s shoulder.

Terra jerked her chin at her in reply; she didn’t quite trust her mouth to work properly to dare a direct response.

“It’s Tara, by the way,” Jinx offered for her; “Dunno if she’s cool with her old name.”

“Did you ask her?”

Jinx huffed and glanced at her expectantly.

“Call me anything but late for lunch,” Terra evaded; “I brought the piggies. You said you didn't like fake meat.”

Raven glanced from her to the coffee table before finding the plate end table next her. She grabbed the plate and settled herself into the armchair across from her, coffee table stretched lengthwise between them, and tore open the plastic cling wrap Terra had used to protect the edibles.

“Thanks,” the Titan offered tonelessly as she picked one out to consume.

“So why’d you want me here?”

“I’m glad that you’re alive,” the Titan replied as she settled the plate in her lap.

“Glad,” Terra repeated.

Raven looked at her, her large violet eyes scanning over her face; it was something of a pet peeve of her’s, the way Raven read people as if they were pages of a book. As if she were interacting with, _things_ , instead of _people_.

“You’d have preferred I’d been more ‘ambivalent’ or ‘thankfull’ then?” Raven asked after eating her appetizer.  

“She’s just pissy cause we found her when she was snooping,” Jinx replied dismissively, taking a pretzel from a tray on the coffee table.

“That was a serious breach in my safety security, yeah,” Terra replied.

“Then you shouldn’t have been ghosting your account,” Jinx countered.

Terra made to reply but huffed when she couldn’t think of a good deflection.  

“Maybe you missed us,” Raven offered.

“I was just bored and Jinx was being dumb,” Terra insisted; “Still doesn’t explain why you invited me here.”

“Maybe we missed you,” Raven trailed evenly; there was a hint of emotion in the Titan’s eyes that made Terra want to grit her teeth.

“You always were a cagey bitch,” Terra exhaled into her drink.

“Manners!” Jinx shouted, slamming her palm against the coffee table to make a startling noise. She was smiling though, as if the loud noise was pleasing to her; which it likely was, if Terra had to guess.

“So how’s school going?” Raven asked.

“I made a shiv in home ec,” Jinx declared mirthfully; “It’s blessed by the moon and made out of glass.”

She smiled proudly.

Terra felt the nerves inside her stomach tingle; she readjusted herself in her seat.

“School is... school,” she managed; “Regular human school isn’t that interesting.”

“I went to a high school once,” Raven stated, surprising her and apparently Jinx.

“You did? Fucknig _when_?” Jinx inquired.

“Last time I visited my Aunt. She lives in San Francisco. I made friends. Saved the city. Came back.”

Raven shrugged as if it was all old news.

“What was your favorite class?” Jinx pressed; “Also you never told me you had an Aunt!?”

“You never asked,” Raven replied tonelessly; “And I think I enjoyed World History the most. Possibly Home Ec.”

“Really?” Terra asked, taken aback; “Not like, Algebra or something?”

Raven shrugged slightly in a manner reminiscent of Jinx’s movements; “I grow bored of the same material spoon fed to me repeatedly. History and Home Ec were unintrusive enough to relax through while held enough unfamiliar content to remain engaging.”

“But not for like, the entire time you’re supposed to be enrolled then, I take it? Since you know,” Terra added, gesturing with her chin, “You came back here and all.”

“I was… keeping my Aunt from having to face certain truths. And while my friends from school were nice, they weren't… family. As the Titans are to me,” Raven revealed carefully, visibly choosing her words with purpose.

“You’ll have to tell me the deets later though, Birdgirl,” Jinx informed the Titan; to which Raven nodded.

“So; school aside…” Terra drawled.

“School aside,” Jinx agreed.

“You’re worried about Jinx’s well being,” Raven stated.

“I mean, can you blame me?” Terra retorted; “I’ve seen you summon… fuckin’ I don't even know whats from god knows wheres, and you have this real finicky habit of goin’’ off without warning for no reason, and Jinx is not exactly the most tactful person.”

“Hey!” Jinx whined; “I’m top of my class in stealth and manipulation.”

“She is more capable than her teammates would lead you to believe,” Raven agreed.

“Yeah but, like, what do you see in _her_ , of all people?” Terra insisted.

“She makes me laugh.”

Terra sat a moment, watching Raven look her dead in the eyes, with zero hint of expression.

“Jessica Rabbit! 1998!” Jinx squeed suddenly, breaking Terra from her haunted reverie; “I _knew_ you’d like that movie.”  

“It was alright,” Raven replied; “It was a little more clever than I anticipated.”

“Yeah, it’s hard to beat Ghibli. I shoulda saved his stuff for last,” Jinx replied lamentingly.  

“You… watch movies? Voluntarily?” Terra asked, still too amazed to internally cringe at the shock she could feel on her face.

“I do lots of things,” the Titan replied unperturbed.

“I’m things!” Jinx murmured devilishly.

“Wait-” she verbally reacted, just as Raven’s lips started to smirk.

“You two’ve… actually…”

“Fucked?” Jinx happily asked, filling in the blank; “Sure. We’ve done a lot of that.”

Terra… didn’t know how to describe the way she was feeling, but it had something to do with the way her soul was sliding around her meat bits and she wasn’t sure that she liked it at all.

“But… how?” she asked, her pitch nearing a whine.

“Well see, it all starts when two girls have a pair of handcuffs and-”

“Jinx-” Raven intoned, “Please, have some class,” she chastised.

Jinx ducked her head, but her face remained tinted with mischievous delight.

“It actually starts with the witty banter.”

Jinx burst out laughing, hissing a few breaths through her teeth as Raven… smiled.

She really _did have too many teeth_ , Terra noted.

Terra swallowed.

“Your powers though…” she managed.

Raven’s smile vanished, and she tilted her head ever so slightly as her eyes fell open wider; it was a subdued habit she’d likely learnt from her Tameranin teammate, since Terra couldn’t ever recall anyone else letting their eyes _open_ in thought.  

“I’ve spent my entire life learning how to control my powers Tara. Is it really so strange for you to think that I might have grown stronger in that, since last we met? That I might have, ‘branched out’ and ‘learned to live a little’?”

“Um, weren’t you the one who turned the Tower into a real life horror story when you watched a shitty horror movie sequel? Didn’t you always say that ‘The more you feel, the more energy you unleash?’” Terra insisted rhetorically.

Raven sighed. Deeply.

Jinx handed her a small stack of cracker-sized salami slices, which she ate.

“True.”

“So you’re still you then,” Terra pressed, leaning forward, “Everything Jinx asked about was true.”

Raven’s face shifted slightly.

“Perhaps. What is seen in the shadows can easily be misunderstood in the mind of an observer? There’s an absolute effect of education, and the lack of it on human nature might lend one to argue either way.”

Terra squinted and watched Jinx in her peripheral.

The girl didn’t seem too enthused, but didn’t seem outright upset either.

“Ok so, like, congrats. Or whatever,” Terra began hesitantly; “Are you two… happy? Together?”

Jinx perked visibly up and Raven also looked to be a touch more relieved; “Yeah,” Jinx replied merrily, lazily slapping a hand onto Raven’s knee and darting her a gooey look; “I’d say we’re doin’ pretty well with each other.”

Jinx’s grin glittered pink for a moment before she leaned over to place a peck on Raven’s cheek and drew back grinning harder.

Raven’s smile also returned, and for a moment, Terra swore that Raven’s hair had been ever so slightly static-y.

“Alright, well; if Jinx wants to frolick knee-deep in semi-tangible and eternal damnation and it keeps you from teething on other people in the world, like, have at it,” Terra declared at Raven, standing up; “I’m going to go back home and pretend that none of you exist. Please don’t call me. I’m dead now. Again.”

Terra set her empty soda on the coffee table and turned to exit the door.   

Neither of the girls made to stop her, which surprised her.

 

* * *

 

 

The hallway was empty, and not the most inspiring of places, but it was enough distance between her and her… old acquaintances, that she could think with a bit of a clearer head.

She exhaled on the elevator; in the taxi, she sighed.

Later, when she finally got home, and she could completely shed the stress of the situation from her shoulders, she tucked herself under the covers of her bed and cried.

As Terra lay in the dark and thought things over to herself, she felt her muscles constrict over the things the Titan had said; over the details she had seen.

It was hard, hating one of the city’s most renowned individuals.

It was hard and nobody understood.

It wasn’t fair, she thought, over and over. That Raven, who should have understood how hard it was,  didn’t. She moved through her problems so effortlessly, leaving all those who couldn’t keep up looking… less than flattering in her wake.    

Terra bit her lip, remembering the way Raven move the earth just as easily as she could; the way she could tune out noise and pointless blather. How she could command a room with her presence, and ensnare an army with only a simple word.

She remembered how the other Titan’s hovered around her, murmuring to her; erring ever on the side of caution and gentleness as if the girl was some fragile thing to be pampered and pleased. 

How many times had Cyborg jokingly quipped that if Raven wasn’t happy, no one was?

How many of Beast Boy’s jokes had Raven shot down, contently crushing the boy’s youthful optimism and vigor?

How many times had she’d blown up, enraged over some word or sentence that no one could have planned for, only for Robin to step in and smooth things over after her?   

So many excuses, so many second chances.

And yet, it was Raven that had remained untested.

Fully trusted.

Terra gripped her pillow harder.

So many months of turning down one offer after the other of enjoying human contact and ‘frivolous’ activity, and now suddenly, she was in love and in control of herself, entertain guests and having fun?  

A sour note in terra’s mind twisted uncomfortably.

Perhaps Raven had never been as troubled as she thought.

Maybe everything really had just been an act; a cold exterior. A ruse.

Hell; she’d seen plenty of mall goths in school; it wasn’t so unreasonable to think the Titan’s could have their own angsty version too.

And Jinx.

Well.

Jinx was just a delinquent; it didn’t really matter what she did anyway.

With these queasy thoughts ever slightly hedging her unease, Terra began the arduous process of pushing things down inside herself and away from her mind.

Tara had midterms to think about after all.

There wasn't any need to recall anything of Terra anymore.  

In the morning, before she’d leave for school, she’d terminate her old account.

She’d stay in Jump just long enough to fill out the year, and then she’d make a clean break for it; somewhere close enough the Titan’s could… hopefully stop her, if… anything were to spring up, but far enough for the Titan and her… weird delinquent crush to prod her for tea.  

She yawned as she settled herself into her pillow. 

A slow, messy grin crept over her frown.  

Maybe she’d even ask the internet for suggestions on where to go and what her new name should be.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You chose this chapter?   
> Well,   
> There's still time to go back and choose again.

 

“So,” she began awkwardly after swallowing; “Where is she?”

“She’s in the back,” Jinx muttered, a hint of nervousness in her words.

“Look, Raven’s a good person, and she’s done a lot of good things,” Terra quietly hissed, “But she isn't alright. She was never alright. She might never be all right,” she emphasized, pleadingly. 

Jinx opened her mouth to reply, but no sound came out. Her lips closed and she ran her tongue over them once, hindering on her lip ring before coming to a stop. 

She nodded once.

That was all the agreement Terra needed.

The door in the tiny dim hallway opened, unveiling the Titan herself. 

A small strangely limbed creature at her heels attempted to exit the room along with her; Raven nudged the thing back and just before she shut the door entirely, Terra swore she saw a black shape skitter around in the air beyond her shoulder. 

The room was silent as Raven turned to regard them; she looked at her and then glanced at Jinx briefly. She seemed to convey something to the thief, who shifted slightly in her seat, before striding closer; her gaze fixed firmly against Terra's face.

Terra ran her tongue over the inside of her bottom lip as the Titan took a seat on the edge of the couch next to Jinx.

Wordlessly, Jinx handed her the half consumed soda she had been drinking. 

Raven took it without comment and rested the can against her knee.

“So, you’re here;” the Titan murmured. 

Her tone was as dead as Terra remembered; her eyes just as piercing, her lips still pressed disdain. 

She was wearing what looked to be an outfit from Jinx’s casual closet, but the lack of a cloak did nothing to erase the look of Raven’s inherent presence of a serpent lifting its head just slightly as it debated to strike. 

“Jinx… told me you would be visiting today. Have you been friends with her long?” 

Terra thought back over all the automated voices that she had heard in her life; how the Titan managed, after all these years, to  _ still  _ speak without any more inflection or hint of tone than her seemingly chosen judicious pauses, was beyond her. 

Seeing her up close again, well; Terra could understand any villain’s draw toward the girl. There was just something innate about her that oozed menace, a suggestion of exploitability, and a countenance of total control. 

At imagining Jinx’s original pull to the Titan, Terra’s mouth began to curl.

“She and I used to chat, back when I worked for Wilson.”

Raven’s face remained motionless, but Terra could feel Raven’s eyes studying her intently; she wondered if because she was unable to experience the world firsthand, if her strange behaviors were just meant to gain contextual awareness by observing it in others. 

Perhaps, Terra thought, as she watched Jinx shiver in the corner of her eye, the Titan just liked to watch people squirm.  

“Interesting,” Raven stated flatly, leaving Terra with no idea with what was running through the girl’s mind, nearly causing her to fidget; “Beast Boy said you didn’t remember Slade, or the Titans.”

She tilted her head ever so slightly. 

“Or yourself.” 

Terra felt her eyes protest at keeping her locked gaze; she blinked and darted her attention to Jinx, marking the girl’s haunched figure before looking back to Raven. 

“And I would have stayed unable to remember,” Terra answered evenly, as she poured confidence and finality to each syllable; “But Jinx broke my cover,”she informed her.

Raven’s brow lifted in a manner that almost passed for a normal expression of skepticism. 

“You really think Slade doesn’t know where you are? You didn’t exactly go very far Tara. You hardly even changed your name.” 

Terra’s brows furrowed briefly; the barb stung, but only because it was true. She hadn’t had all that many resources to work with. She’d done the best she could, on her own.  

She repeated that to herself, internally, as she purposefully dropped Raven’s stare to look down at the snacks, as if she was inteding to procure one for herself. 

“The fact that Jinx was able to reach through to you at all, suggests that you’re not safe here,” Raven addressed blankly; “You should’ve moved across city lines. Made a cleaner break. ”

Terra rolled her eyes; “Still a bossy know it all then, huh?” she asked rhetorically. 

Raven’s hand seemed to grip Jinx’s shoulder firmly, as she girl unfolded herself and sat straighter. 

“Look, I can ask Gizzy to hook you up if you wanna new cover story; and Mammoth’s got an old garage of wheels of you need a lift to anywhere,” Jinx offered. 

Terra shook her head. 

“Much as I hate it here, this City is the safest place to be. If I tried to leave, I’d set off any bells and whistles Slade had set up for me. At least here I know he’s after me. Out there? Might lull myself into a false sense of security.”

“That’s fair,” Jinx agreed; Raven’s face soured slightly in a way that Terra couldn’t explain.  

After a moment’s suspension Raven seemed free of the expression, and emotion behind it.

“Help yourself to the food by the way,” Jinx insisted, taking some for herself; “Lunch will be ready in a bit as well.”

Terra found she simply couldn't bring herself to touch the snacks.

“I’ll pass.”

“So,” Jinx rebounded, the tone in her voice indicating her desire to get any form of conversation going; “How’s school been treating you?” 

“It’s… normal,” Terra replied smoothly; “Tests, homework, shitty lunches, band practice. How about you?”

“Eh; same really,” Jinx answered tiredly; “It’s been tougher lately; more competition, dumber teachers, less compensation. Stuff like that.” 

Jinx leaned back slightly, pressing against Raven; in what looked like it could be called a twist of tenderness, the Titan placed her hand on Jinx’s thigh, surprising Terra. It’d had been a long, long time, since she’d seen Raven initiate physical contact of her own accord; at least, without a threat of violence attached at any rate. 

“The good news though, is that everyone at school wishes they were me,” Jinx preened, an almost familiar devilish smile on her face.

“For some reason, I always seem to attract the wrong types,” Raven murmured. 

Terra snorted. 

“Gee, I wonder why that could be,” she shot back, rolling her eyes. 

Raven’s brow furrowed slightly, for nearly a heartbeat. 

“You make it sound as though I invite the attention,” Raven murmured coldly; around her, the room’s light dimmed slightly. 

“Your literal brand of Justice dispensing, is to drag people to the shadow realm and bind them with nightmare tentacles,” Terra snapped dryly. 

“That doesn-”

“-She has a point,” Jinx interjected, cutting off the Titan’s reply. 

Jinx turned to the girl and smiled; Raven huffed slightly and seemed to relax again. 

Terra watched the Titan take a sip of her drink; her eyes lingered on the way gem adorning Raven’s brow faintly ebbed with an inner glow.     

Her sip taken, Raven returned to watching her. 

“Why is it, that you’ve come here Terra,” Raven murmured grimly, her eyes lifeless.

Terra felt as if the air in the room was crawling down the back of her shirt to lick along her spine; she tried to keep her breathing even. 

“Jinx‘s been real concerned about you; scared her so bad she asked me the best way to perform an impromptu exorcism, holy water and all,” Terra said firmly, her hands gripping the chair’s armrests tightly. 

Raven’s brows shot up in surprise; her eyelids receded slightly from the statement. 

Almost instantly, the hand on Jinx’s thigh ever so slightly tightened its grip as Raven brought herself to her full, proper posture. 

Her eyes were alive and glistening with constrained violet heat. 

“If Jinx had any sort of problem with me, she would have mentioned it to me.”

“If you don’t believe me, you can fucking google it,” Terra replied flatly; her heart was hammering in her chest. 

Raven’s eyes furrowed; the room darkened. It seemed all at once, as if there were too many eyes in the sockets of dead things looking at her, Terra thought.  

“I’m trying to be a nice hostess, and a supporting girlfriend,” Raven spoke, slowly; her words brimming with undercurrents of resentment, “If you’re not going to be a pleasant houseguest, I will ask you to leave.”

Raven’s mouth started to curl.

“Not that that should be a problem for you, I’d imagine,” the Titan pressed coyly; “After all, that does seem to be what you do best, doesn’t it?” 

Terra’s fists started to crush the edges of the armrests and her jaw screamed at the pressure of her grinding teeth. 

Jinx quickly threw her hands onto Raven’s. 

“Chill Babe, we’re all just like, unused to people. Breathe;” she pushed, stealing Raven’s attention as she twisted around in her seat.  

Raven made a noise in her throat; a definitely not human noise, that sounded like a low, rumbling, growl. 

It reminded Terra of the cat’s she’d seen in shelters; the ones that’d huddle in the corners of their cages, and wail at anyone who got too close in warning. 

As Jinx pressed closer to her, Raven’s snarl flashed into a hissing brandishing of teeth and a red eyes; it was over before Terra could blink, but it had prompted Jinx to shift her face ever so slightly back from the Titan’s teeth.   

“Look, I did ask some stuff on the internet but it was out of wanting to be a good girlfriend! I swear! It’s not like there was a  _ ‘how to please your demonically infused girlfriend in six easy steps’ _ book lying around anywhere!” Jinx pleaded; “And I figured that you know, if worse came to worse, I should know how to help you…”

The earnest look on Jinx's face was marred only by Terra's memories of the girl making the same face at every opportunity she could as she tried to weasel herself out of the trouble she'd always danced her way into. 

Raven made a sound; a sound that Terra could only describe as something utterly terrifying on a primal level. It made every hair on her body stand on end and it took every ounce of Terra’s willpower to keep her hands clutching the chair instead of bolting for the apartment door.  

Terra’s lungs stopped drawing in air as she watched motionless, the pair on the couch. 

Wordlessly, Jinx leaned forward and pressed a chaste kiss against Raven’s lips; her brows weren’t raised, her hair wasn’t any fraction lighter. Jinx seemed outwardly entirely unfazed by the Titan’s display. 

Terra felt herself try to swallow what wasn’t there. 

Jinx, still looking Raven dead in the eyes, squeezed her hands twice and blinked so slowly, that Terra had to take a moment to figure out what she was doing. 

Jinx made a sound; one easily conflated with large cats and humming insects. The purring appeared to do the trick however and after gently nudging the Titan’s chin with her brow, the Titan’s air of aggressiveness seemed to wane. 

Terra exhaled. 

And she exhaled again. 

And once more. 

Raven and Jinx turned to look at her. 

Something in the way that Raven was looking at her; something within the gleam of the Titan’s eyes made Terra wonder how much she could see inside her head. 

“Well; I’m glad you aren’t going to kill each other I guess,” she offered halfheartedly. 

Jinx smiled. 

“Don’t be silly Dirtbag;” Jinx trilled uncannily, her grin filled with numerous sharp teeth; “Our suicide pact isn’t up ‘till next year.” 

Terra watched as Jinx and Raven broke out into an uncontrollable, growling laughter.


End file.
